The present invention relates to an apparatus for mounting a light-transmittable panel to an accommodating section of a lighting fixture in a game machine, such as a slot machine, and to a game machine using the same.
In a game machine, a panel, on which various information such as the title of the game machine and illustration of prizes are painted, is usually provided on a front surface of a housing and it is illuminated from an inside of the housing to decorate the game machine. Such a panel mounting apparatus has been popular in which the whole circumference of a panel formed by a light-transmittable material, such as acryl, is surrounded by a single retainer frame, and the retainer frame is secured to the housing of the game machine by a fixing member, such as a bolt (disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 6-261972 and 7-31717).
According to the above conventional mounting apparatus, it is necessary to remove the large retainer frame from the housing when checking and exchanging the panel and lighting fixture, and to reassemble the retainer frame after the checking operation and so forth, resulting in the efficiency of the operation being reduced.
Regarding a top box provided on the upper portion of the housing, there is an example whereby the panel and its retainer frame are mounted to a door of the front of the box, and the lighting fixture is accommodated in the main body of the box, thereby allowing the lighting fixture to be detachable without the attachment and detachment of the panel (disclosed in, for example, Australian Patent No. 644996). Even in this case, however, there has not been improvement in the amount of labor required to attach and detach the panel.